Thursday TV: Hot Wheels Turn 50

Not every benchmark of 1968 was a grim one. Let’s talk about cool toy cars that debuted a half century ago, in the “Hot Wheels: 50th Anniversary Special” (History, 8 p.m.). A classic toy zipped around on loop-de-loop tracks ended up influencing car design. What began with a die-cast custom Camaro is lately toying with remote-controlled, Bluetooth-enabled models. More than 6 billion Hot Wheels have been sold in its 50 years, 10 every second, Mattel claims.

On the new “Carnival Kings” (Cooking, 9 p.m.), high end chef Richie Farina goes to carnivals to examine their fare and challenge the creator of things like duck sliders, as he does tonight in Tucson.

The World Cup is almost over, but here’s the USA International Cup in softball with Canada vs. USA Blue (ESPN, 7 p.m.). And in lacrosse, the FIL world championships have Israel vs. Jamaica (ESPNU, 9:30 a.m.) and U.S. vs. Iroquois Nationals (ESPN2, 1:30 p.m.).

The Tour de France (NBC Sports, 7:30 p.m.) hits Stage 6 in Brittany in which riders scale the Mûr de Britange twice.